The Unvarnished Gary Phillips: A Mondo Pulp Collection

Award-winning author, screenwriter, and editor Gary Phillips gathers his most thrilling, outlandish, and madcap pulp fiction in this 17-story collection that straddles the line between bizarro, science fiction, noir, and superhero classics.

Aztec vampires, astral-projecting killers, oxygen-stealing bombs, undercover space rangers, aliens occupying Los Angeles, right-wing specters haunting the ’hood, masked vigilantes, and mad scientists in their underground lairs plotting world domination populate the stories in this rip-snorting collection. In these pages, grindhouse melds with blaxploitation, along with strong doses of B-movie drive-in fare.

Phillips, editor of the Anthony Award–winning The Obama Inheritance: Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir and author of One-Shot Harry and Matthew Henson and the Ice Temple of Harlem, said this about pulp: “The most common definition of pulp is it’s fast-paced, a story containing out-there characters and a wild plot. There is that. But certainly, as we’ve now arrived at the era of retro-pulp, these stories have elements of characterization: not just action, but a glimpse behind the steely eyes of these doers of incredible deeds.”

As an added bonus, Phillips resurrects Phantasmo, a Golden Age comics character created by Black artist-writer E.C. Stoner, in an all-new outing of ethereal adventures. The collection also includes four original illustrations by cover artist Adam Shaw.